A Case of Surgical Extraction of the Lower Third Molars in a Cranial Series from the Pucará de Tilcara Fortress (Jujuy Province, Argentina)
https://doi.org/10.17746/1563-0110.2020.48.2.149-156
Abstract
This study analyzes the earliest known case of surgical extraction of the lower third molars, observed in a cranial series from Pucará de Tilcara fortress (15th–16th centuries AD), northwestern Argentina, excavated in 1908–1910. Crania were transported to the Kunstkamera in 1910 under an exchange project. Traces of dental surgery were registered in the mandible of a male aged ~40. Both third molars had been extracted after the removal of soft tissues and parts of the alveoli. Teeth were extracted by scraping alveolar walls with semicircular movements. The results of scanning electron microscopy, X-ray fluorescence, and X-ray microanalysis suggest that a stone tool was used. The results of macroscopic and CT analysis suggest that the surgery was motivated by the exacerbation of chronic periodontal disease and probably by caries. The left third molar was extracted without complications 2–3 months before the individual’s death. On the right side, the pathological process continued, culminating in osteomyelitis and its complications. The surgeon’s skill notwithstanding, the extraction of the right third molar did not cure the patient, who died, apparently following the destructive stage of acute osteomyelitis complicated by orofacial phlegmon. Our findings suggest that the level of dental surgery practiced in the Inca Empire was ahead of the diagnostic expertise.
Keywords
Paleopathology,
computed tomography,
ancient surgery,
lower third molars,
periodontitis,
osteomyelitis
Supporting agencies: This study was supported by the Russian Foundation for Basic Research, Projects No. 18-00-00360 (18-00-00511, 18-0000350) COMFR.
About the Authors
A. V. Zubova
Peter the Great Museum of Anthropology and Ethnography (Kunstkamera), Russian Academy of Sciences
Russian Federation
Universitetskaya nab. 3, St. Petersburg, 199034
Russian Federation
Universitetskaya nab. 3, St. Petersburg, 199034
O. L. Pikhur
St. Petersburg Institute of Bioregulation and Gerontology; Kursk State Medical University
Russian Federation
Pr. Dinamo 3, St. Petersburg, 197110
K. Marksa 3, Kursk, 305041
Russian Federation
Pr. Dinamo 3, St. Petersburg, 197110
K. Marksa 3, Kursk, 305041
A. V. Obodovskiy
St. Petersburg Electrotechnical University “LETI”
Russian Federation
Professora Popova 5, St. Petersburg, 197022
Russian Federation
Professora Popova 5, St. Petersburg, 197022
A. A. Malyutina
Institute for the History of Material Culture, Russian Academy of Sciences
Russian Federation
Dvortsovaya nab. 18, St. Petersburg, 191186
Russian Federation
Dvortsovaya nab. 18, St. Petersburg, 191186
L. M. Dmitrenko
Peter the Great Museum of Anthropology and Ethnography (Kunstkamera), Russian Academy of Sciences
Russian Federation
Universitetskaya nab. 3, St. Petersburg, 199034
Russian Federation
Universitetskaya nab. 3, St. Petersburg, 199034
K. S. Chugunova
State Hermitage Museum
Russian Federation
Dvortsovaya nab. 34, St. Petersburg, 191181
Russian Federation
Dvortsovaya nab. 34, St. Petersburg, 191181
D. V. Pozdnyakov
Institute of Archaeology and Ethnography, Siberian Branch, Russian Academy of Sciences
Russian Federation
Pr. Akademika Lavrentieva 17, Novosibirsk, 630090
Russian Federation
Pr. Akademika Lavrentieva 17, Novosibirsk, 630090
V. B. Bessonov
St. Petersburg Electrotechnical University “LETI”
Russian Federation
Professora Popova 5, St. Petersburg, 197022
Russian Federation
Professora Popova 5, St. Petersburg, 197022
References
1. Alekseev V.P., Debets G.F. 1964 Kraniometriya: Metodika antropologicheskikh issledovaniy. Moscow: Nauka.
2. Aufderheide A.C., Rodríguez-Martín C., Langsjoen O. 1998 The Cambridge Encyclopedia of Human Paleopathology. Cambridge: Cambridge Univ. Press.
3. Debenedetti S. 1930 Las ruinas de Pucará de Tilcara. Archivos del Museo Etnográfico II, Primera Parte. Buenos Aires: Universidad de Buenos Aires.
4. Deliverska E.G., Petkova M. 2016 Complications after extraction of impacted third molars literature review. Journal of IMAB – Annual Proceeding (Scientific Papers), vol. 22 (3): 1202–1211.
5. Dmitrenko L.M. 2016 Kollektsiya keramiki indeitsev kalchaki v sobranii MAE RAN. In Radlovskiy sbornik: Nauchniye issledovaniya i muzeiniye proyekty MAE RAN v 2015 g. St. Petersburg: MAE RAN, pp. 99–108.
6. Forshaw R.J. 2009 The practice of dentistry in ancient Egypt. British Dental Journal, vol. 206 (9): 479–484.
7. Gerszten P. 1993 An investigation into the practice of cranial deformation among the pre-Columbian peoples of Northern Chile. International Journal of Osteoarchaeology, vol. 3: 87–98.
8. Greco C., Otero C. 2015 The chronology of settlements with pre-Inca and Inca occupations superimposed: The case of Pucará de Tilcara (Humahuaca Gorge, Argentina). Archaeometry, vol. 58 (5): 848–862.
9. Handbook of South American Archaeology. 2008 Washington: Springer.
10. Handbook of South American Indians. 1946 Vol. 2: The Andean civilizations. Washington: Government Printing Office. (Smithsonian Institution Bureau of American Ethnology; bull. 143).
11. Iordanishvili A.K., Ponomarev A.A., Korovin N.V., Gaivoronskaya M.G. 2016 Chastota i struktura oslozhneniy posle udaleniya zubov mudrosti nizhney chelyusti. Meditsinskiy vestnik Bashkortostana, vol. 11 (2): 71–73.
12. Marino R., Gonzales-Portillo M. 2000 Pre-conquest Peruvian neurosurgeons: A study of Inca and pre-Columbian trephination and the art of medicine in ancient Peru. Neurosurgery, iss. 47: 940–950.
13. Ortiz A., Torres Pino E.C., Orellana González E. 2016 First evidence of pre-Hispanic dentistry in South America insights from Cusco, Peru. Homo, vol. 67 (2): 100–109.
14. Ortner D.J., Putschar W.G.H. 1985 Identification of Pathological Conditions in Human Skeletal Remains. Washington: Smithsonian Institution Press.
15. Otero C. 2013 La arqueología en el relato oficial delestado nacional. El caso del Pucará de Tilcara (Jujuy, Argentina). Arqueología Suramericana / Arqueología Sul-Americana, vol. 6 (1/2): 87–111.
16. Romero J. 1970 Dental mutilation, trephination and cranial deformation. In Handbook of Middle American Indians. Vol. 9: Physical Anthropology, T.D. Stewart (ed.). Austin: University of Texas Press, pp. 50–67.
17. Standards for Data Collection from Human Skeletal Remains. 1994 J.E. Buikstra, D.H. Ubelaker (eds.). Fayetteville: Arkansas Archaeological Survey. (Arkansas Archaeological Survey Research Ser.; No. 44).
18. Steed M.B. 2014 The indications for third-molar extractions. Journal of American Dental Association, vol. 145 (6): 570–573.
19. Ubelaker D.H. 1977 Drilled human teeth from the coast of Ecuador. Journal of the Washington Academy of Sciences, vol. 67: 83–85.
20. Ubelaker D.H. 1987 Drilled alteration in prehistoric Ecuador: A new example from Jama-Coaque. Journal of the Washington Academy of Sciences, vol. 77: 76–80.
21. Zaburlín M.A. 2010 Arquitectura y organización urbana en el sitio del Pucará de Tilcara (Jujuy, Argentina). In El hábitat prehispánico: Arqueología de la Arquitectura y de la construcción del espacio organizado. San Salvador de Jujuy: Universidad National de Jujuy, pp. 187–207.
22. Zaburlín M.A., Otero С. 2014 Un manuscrito olvidado de J.B. Ambrosetti: “Exploraciones arqueológicas en la Antigua ciudad del Pukará de Tilcara”. In Investigaciones del Instituto Interdisciplinario Tilcara. Buenos Aires: Universidad de Buenos Aires, pp. 161–220.
Review
For citations:
Zubova A.V., Pikhur O.L., Obodovskiy A.V., Malyutina A.A., Dmitrenko L.M., Chugunova K.S., Pozdnyakov D.V., Bessonov V.B. A Case of Surgical Extraction of the Lower Third Molars in a Cranial Series from the Pucará de Tilcara Fortress (Jujuy Province, Argentina). Archaeology, Ethnology & Anthropology of Eurasia. 2020;48(2):149-156. https://doi.org/10.17746/1563-0110.2020.48.2.149-156
Views: 321
Email this article 